The English Colonies in Virginia, New England and Maryland

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The English Colony in Virginia

The English also wanted to establish colonies in North America. In 1585 a group of English colonists made a settlement on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. However, the colonists later disappeared without a trace. Approximately 20 years later, a group of English merchants were granted permission from the king of England to start a new settlement in North America. About 100 people sailed to the area now known as Virginia, where they established a town called Jamestown. This was the first permanent English colony in what is now the United States.

Since the majority of these colonists did not know how to farm, most of them soon died. But soon one of the survivors, John Rolfe, learned from the Native Americans in the area that tobacco was a successful local crop. Knowing that tobacco was popular in England but grew poorly there, the people of Jamestown began growing and selling this crop, for which people in England were willing to pay a high price. This income allowed the settlers to purchase the food and supplies they needed from their home country, and thus the colony was able to survive.

In 1619 the colonists in Virginia created an elected legislature called the House of Burgesses. Most of these elected representatives were members of the Church of England (also called the Anglican Church), and soon this became the official church of the colony, forcing members of other religions to move away from the area.

George Washington was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1758 and served in this position for 15 years. Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were also members of this legislature. At the time Washington was elected as a burgess, each county sent two representatives, who by law had to be male landowners and at least 21 years old.

English Colonies in New England and Maryland

During the early 1600s, other English settlements were established on the Atlantic coast of North America. A small group of Separatists, so called because they sought religious freedom from the Church of England, set sail on the Mayflower to establish a religious settlement in Virginia. These people called themselves Pilgrims. Like many before them, they landed in an area different from the one they had intended, and they found themselves in what is now Massachusetts. In order to set up a government for their colony, which they called Plymouth, the Pilgrims drafted the Mayflower Compact, which established a set of basic laws.

Another English religious group, the Puritans, also seeking freedom from the Church of England, set sail for North America in order to establish a colony based on their own religious beliefs. These settlers landed in an area north of Plymouth and built their colony near what is now Boston. The Puritans called their settlement the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This colony proved to be very successful, and many other Puritans came from England to join it. By the 1640s, approximately 20,000 Puritans lived in this region, and as a result, the area became known as New England.

Religion played a significant role in the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and only male colonists who were members of the church and who owned land were able to vote. Despite these regulations, the people of this colony still enjoyed more self-government than those in many other colonies. However, there were some who felt that the Puritan leaders should not have so much control over the colonists’ lives. One prominent colonist named Roger Williams believed that the government should not establish laws dealing with religion. As a result, he was banished by the Puritan leaders. Williams went on to found a new colony, Rhode Island, in 1636. In Rhode Island, government and religion were kept separate, and people could worship as they chose.

Thomas Hooker, a minister, also disagreed with some of the laws established by the Puritan leaders. He led a small group of colonists to an area in Connecticut to establish a community in which all men could vote, regardless of whether or not they were members of the church. The colony of New Hampshire was established when colonists from the Massachusetts Bay Colony moved farther north to settle.

Around this same time, in 1632, King Charles I of England gave North American land to Cecilius Calvert, an English noble also known as Lord Baltimore. Calvert, a Catholic, founded the colony of Maryland so that members of his religion could escape the religious persecution they often faced in England.